Today's Headlines/Class

The headlines in class on Thursday were really interesting to me. I never have heard of a school giving it's students money based off their grades. While it may seem like a good idea because it's motivating students, I feel like it's motivating them for the wrong reasons. If there's no intrinsic motivation to do well in school, the kids are probably just studying the night before the test to get a good grade, as opopsed to trying to retain the information and learn something. If anything, I think the kids who improve the most with their grades should be the ones to get the money, as opposed to the kids that just make As. At least this way, you're rewarding effort put forth, not just natural ability.
I'm really glad we had the little groups to talk about our papers as well. It's not that difficult of a paper, but I get nervous that I'm not doing the paper the way its supposed to be done. Being an English major, I like to give my own opinion about things, and this is one paper where I can't do that, so I'm struggling. I thiink once I get into the flow of writing it, it will be easier for me,but for now it's a problem. Not to mention it being the end of the semester and I am stressed out beyond belif!

Thursday's Class...

Today's class was one that I got really into, probably because I liked these two chapters in the book the best. Granted, the vignettes were a little ridiculous, but I guess not completely impossible. I just hope that I don't have to deal with a Satan worshipping, eye poking student haha. Regardless, it never has occurred to me how many sticky situations a teacher can get into. The vignette about the student who didn't look the teacher in the eye really made me think. I don't ever want to make a student feel uncomfortable because of his upbringing, but I also know that I'm not going to know everything about every one of my student's cultures. It is just a very intimidating thing to think about.
Another thing that I’m really nervous about teaching is how my students are going to react to different cultures. I know quite a few parents who pass their own discriminatory views on to their children, and those children act out on those views. The last thing I ever want for my students is for them to feel uncomfortable in their own classroom, and I guess I have to understand that is a real possibility.
On a side note- I can not believe that we only have two more classes left! I just went to my second meeting on Wednesday, and it was pretty much the exact same thing that I saw at the last meeting. The highlight, however, is when one of the teacher’s was called on to speak, but was too busy talking on her cell phone. It made me think of when I’m in class and I literally laughed out loud. This Tuesday I’m going back for 5 hours of community service. I’m nervous, but I think it will go well because I’m dealing with kindergartners. I bet they’re going to be so cute!

Charter Schools...

After watching the videos on charter schools, I’m fairly convinced that this method of teaching/education is much more effective than the standard public school method. Not only does this cater to the child’s individual needs more, but it was also very apparent that the kids in the video really enjoyed going to school. They are able to explore their passions, while still learning the information the teacher wants them to learn. They are assessed by standardized testing, but in a portfolio format. This seems more effective because it allows the teacher to see the overall progress of the student, rather than basing their progress off of one test.
One of the things that I saw in the video that I could use in my own classroom is situating the desks in a circle. This allows the students to feel important to the class, rather than just watching a teacher run the classroom. It makes the students feel more comfortable and makes conversation much easier. In the classroom of the charter schools, the students are encouraged to think abstractly and to form their own opinions. This is much harder to do in a standard classroom setting because the students can’t see each other’s faces, and the focus is on the teacher, as opposed to the students.
In class, we also discussed grade retention and bumping up children when they aren’t ready. Both are found to be ineffective and set the child up for a more difficult education experience. Rather than deciding to hold a child back, I think better methods are having summer school classes available as well as having smaller classes. If the teacher has a smaller class size, then they will be able to devote more attention to a struggling student. However, even though this is more effective, it is unlikely to happen due to school funding and budgeting 

Questionairre

After reading Eisner's article, I feel that his fifth area of reform is what most pertains to the field I want to teach, English. I feel that it is nearly impossible to test students in the standard multiple choice format, in regard to teaching English. Because books are so open for interpretation, who am I to tell these kids that what they interpret is wrong? Instead, I would rather access kids in ways that allow them to explain their interpretation, and justify their reasoning for it. An essay, for instance, would be a more effective way of evaluating my students than just giving them a test and expecting them to think the same way I am a thinking.

Also, I would put more of a focus on classroom discussions and having students talk with one another to try and figure out certain aspects of the novel. By having everyone give their ideas, it allows students to be exposed to completely new ways of thinking than they normally would have been. This discussion between students is what is going to help students really learn, not just answering the questions to a test. When a student studies for a test, they usually forget the information immediately after the test. To prevent this from happening, I would rather have these students openly discuss new topics and ideas with one another, so that they can form ideas for themselves, as opposed to just answering what they think I want to hear.

With these alternative methods of assessment, I will be able to see who understands the content and who is struggling with it. The benefit of doing it this way, however is that I don’t have to fail students who don’t understand the content based off one test. Instead I can help them and have students help one another to understand the material and think critically about it.

Eisner Article

I really enjoyed reading this article. One of the main reasons I was so pleased with it was because it helped me in my Philosophy of Education paper, so that was awesome! Otherwise though, I really liked what Eisner had to say about nearly everything. One of the main things I liked was that he commented that not all children are developmentally the same, and to have the same expectations of them is ludicrous. Some children are better in math, some in art, others in reading & writing, etc. These differences don't make any one student better than the other, it is just a difference in talents and passions.
Another topic that I agreed with, was that pointing out that tests aren't the only way to measure a student’s progress. There are countless students who are intelligent and motivated, yet simply are not good test takers. So why is it that these students get labeled negatively just because they don’t take standardized tests well. It doesn’t make sense. That being said, I liked how he made it known that just because a school has higher test scores does not mean it is a better school. There are lots of good schools with good teachers, who genuinely care about the students. They shouldn’t be judged as a bad school or bad teachers, just because there students didn’t meet a certain standard. It makes the teacher motivated to teach for a test, as opposed to teaching the students so they become more educated.
This Eisner article has been my favorite thing I’ve read so far in the class. He really seems to encompass all the assumptions about teaching, and clears them up for those who would not know better. I really wish that the creators of NCLB read this article.

Shadowing

I went on my shadowing yesterday, and I was really happy with how it turned out. I was initially really excited about it because I saw I had Mrs. Gonzalez and she seemed really fun and energetic when we were at the orientation. The day didn't start out that great because I got really lost and ended up being 10 minutes late, but she was really understanding. It was interesting seeing the classroom dynamic because it was such a small class at first, with only about 7 students. These students were just learning English and didn't speak it or write it very well. They seemed to comprehend most of what they were hearing though. I loved how Mrs. Gonzalez ran her classroom. She was both attentive to the children's needs but had high expectations for them. After their class she switched with the other half of ESL learners, and they were able to speak and write English much better. When they were asked to write about what they liked most about this country, I was really happy to see that most of them said they liked it because they were able to learn a new language. Obviously they really enjoyed learning English and had a desire to learn more. After their lesson the other students came in and Mrs. Gonzalez taught them with the help of the other ESL teacher. After that she did with them math, history, and science. When they were working on their history lesson, they were making posters, so I got to talk to Mrs. Gonzalez for awhile. She talked a lot about difficulties of the job, such as teaching students with such a wide range of English ability all four subjects, to problems such as lack of funding, and finally the infamous consequences of NCLB. I was really happy with how everything turned out and can honestly say it was a really rewarding experience. 

Who Knew Teaching Could Get You Into So Much Trouble

The title for my blog is meant to be a joke, but until class today I never really sat down to think about what a teacher is liable for. The story about the substitute teacher from Connecticut really put things into perspective for me. While it seemed that this teacher did nothing wrong, she was still held liable for the pornography that the students brought up on her computer and eventually saw. She did not act with common sense in the classroom, which led to her being blamed for corrupting the morality of the students she was there to teach. For instance, she should not have left the classroom open for students to walk into. Also, she could have put something over the screen to prevent the kids from seeing it. While all of these issues seem like common sense, when put in that kind of high-pressure situation, it's easy to see why she made these errors.
Another thing brought to my attention was the mention of myspaces and facebooks. While I made sure to untag myself in any unflattering pictures, that still may not be enough to prevent a principal from finding me on the site and eventually finding something that he does not like. The second we left class, I made sure to change all of my settings to private, which is defintely for the best. As said in class, as teachers we are supposed to be role models for our students, and we need to act accordingly. Being a teacher is a job that one must uphold 24/7 because you never know in what environment you can see a student in. So far, this class was both the most informative and most interesting one we have had this semester.